It's Time to Say Goodbye to Facebook's Static FBML

You may have been redirected to this page from one of our Static FBML articles or tutorials. 

We've decided to terminate the Static FBML tutorials because FBML is increasingly less reliable, which leads to confusion and frustration, and to help encourage users to move on to iFrames before Facebook pulls the plug and your Static FBML tabs and FBML tags cease working altogether. It was a good run, but it's time to move on...

In March, Facebook made it clear that page admins should begin transitioning their Static FBML tabs to iFrame tabs.

Shortly thereafter, page admins discovered they could no longer add the Static FBML application to their fan page and, if they already had it installed, they couldn't create new tabs.

Facebook continues to support existing installations of Static FBML, but users are finding that some FBML tags aren't behaving like they used to and the truth is that the functionality of existing FBML tags will gradually diminish until it's finally terminated altogether.

Page admins should immediately transition to iFrame tabs.

Although creating iFrame custom tabs is technically more difficult, involving creating a Facebook application, using FTP to upload files to a server, and making sure that all the iFrame page assets are hosted in a secure HTTPS environment, a number of free Facebook applications have arisen to help the less technical admins to create custom iFrame tabs without requiring all these skills.

TabPress: a Free Facebook iFrame Tab Application

Here at HyperArts, we developed TabPress, a free iFrame tab application that takes care of the secure hosting of the iFrame page itself.

And using a free secure-hosting service such as Amazon Web Services S3, admins can upload their images and other page assets to a secure server and avoid browsers displaying "mixed content" warnings when both HTTP and HTTPS are used in the iFrame page code.

And instead of having to deal with the eccentricities of using fb:visible-to-connection FBML to create the Reveal / fan-gating feature, TabPress automates the Reveal feature for you, allowing you to enter content for fans in one box and for non-fans in another.

Facebook iFrame Tab Application Tutorials for Coders

For those who are fine with creating Facebook applications and working with Web coding, HyperArts offers some excellent detailed Facebook iFrame tutorials:

• Add an iFrame Application to your Facebook Fan Page - 2011 Edition
• Getting Rid of Scrollbars in Facebook iFrame Tabs
• How to Create Reveal / Fan-gating on your Facebook iFrame Tabs
• How to Use Reveal to Redirect Users to a New Tab after they Like your Page
• How to Deal with and Correct Mixed Content (HTTP / HTTPS) Warnings in iFrame Tabs
• How to Add and Use the Facebook Send Button on your iFrame Tabs
• How to Add a Classic Facebook Share Button to your iFrame Tab Application

Replace your FBML tags with XFBML Social Plugins

Several of Facebook's Social Plugins, originally developed for use on external websites so they could integrate with Facebook's Open Graph, can be used on your iFrame tabs.

Just go to the Social Plugins page, and navigate to either the Like Button, Send Buttonor Comments Box, and Facebook will generate the code you need via a simple interface.

Accept this Change — It's a Definite Improvement

FBML always seemed like a pretty buggy and unsustainable approach to Facebook coding. The move to IFrames takes the load off of Facebook's servers (iFrame "canvas" or "index" pages are hosted off of Facebook), and restoring the ability to use standard Web coding practices is a great relief to developers.

And you can use standard HTML, CSS, JavaScript, , jQuery and PHP to create your custom iFrame tabs, forever leaving behind FBML, FBJS and all the accompanying headaches.

Also, the new fan page layout, rolled out around the same time, has greatly improved the branding possibilities and options for page admins. (Read my Social Media Examiner article about taking advantage of branding possibilities with the latest Facebook page layout.)

Facebook is constantly growing and changing and when you think about it, it's really quite amazing that it works as well as it does! It's a free service, has created an amazing global community, and is approaching 700,000,000 users.